December 31, 2012

Where did this year go ? I can't believe I'm reviewing 2012 but what a great year it's been. I think as time moves forward and I look back on 2012, it will be one of those years that will stand out as a turning point, thresholds crossed, and dreams fulfilled.

This past year had a lot of travel involved. We started the year in Montreal where we spent the holidays with family and friends.

In March we went to Paris and met up with my good friend Emily to celebrate the final conclusion of a little book known to insiders as "Charlie".

Celebrating with our eldest daughter Zaina as she graduated university.

My annual pilgrimage to New York City to participate in Book Expo America and meeting several of my favorite authors.

Spending some lovely weeks in Sweden on the island of Gotland.

Spending August with visiting family.

It was good we rested while we were in Sweden because when we got back I can sum up the rest of the year in one word "Charlie."

It won the QED award for innovation and design. It's the e-book version of The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Charlie made a huge blog tour meeting friends old and new.

It was chosen as part of Apple's cyber-week promotion.

But the biggest and most epic news was that Charlie went all the way to #1 on iTunes on the iBookstore and stayed there for awhile. It's been on the charts eversince. Needless to say there was more hooping and hollering than a rodeo over here ......for weeks now. I just can't stop screaming. I'm sure you can understand that it's quite something.

Though this year has seen many, many, happy ocassions, it sadly has seen less of me in this space. I've missed it greatly and look forward to coming back and resuming my beloved blogging habit and reconnecting with friends. I'm so glad many of you are on Facebook as it allows me to see you daily.

If you don't have an ipad, iphone, or ipod touch you can get the pdf version for 9.95 using the code word "homeschool".

Love animals? I have a fox family living in my front yard. After sharing the story on my blog, many readers asked if it was going to become a book. That question was the beginning of my publishing house Audrey Press. I'm often asked if I took all of the photos. Yes I did. On the e-book versions I'm reading the story aloud.

Currently we have several books in production by several authors. We are committed to creating inspiring, enchanting, and magical books for families to share, create, and discover their world together.

November 27, 2012

Hello everyone. It's been awhile since we've met but I had to share with you a special something that Donna Ashton and I are doing this evening.

Are you ready for this? Jump into a Book and the Waldorf Connection are hosting a Live-stream celebration and giveaway like no other on November 27th (today!)

During our LiveStream event, we will be jumping into the world of Willy Wonka via The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and sharing tips and ideas on how to create a book and story centered family time.

And Here’s the Really Great News

Not only will we be having some great discussions and topics, we will be offering up A Very Large Giveaway. It’s like Christmas shopping the FUN way ;)

Here are the Prizes:

Jump into a Book and Audrey Press will be giving away 2 copies each of The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Fox Diaries.

The Waldorf Connection will be giving away their Storytelling series.

A one year subscription to Sparkle Stories

A set of 6 Silkies for inspired play and storytelling.

And the really BIG Prize……..

A Complete Set of Elsa Beskow Books!

The Elsa Beskow Collection contains 19 delightful books your whole family will love. We are thrilled at the prospect of putting these books into the hands of a deserving family for the holiday season. We’ll be giving these prizes away throughout the LiveStream Celebration, which will run about an hour, so you must be present to WIN.

***Apple’s iBookstore and our friends at KiteReaders haves chosen our Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be a part of the Cyber Week “$2.99-and-under” book promotion! This is a HUGE honor and a great opportunity for families to get their enhanced digital book version of one of the most beloved children’s tales of all time. BUT, don’t delay. This promotion only goes until 12/4/12. Go HERE to grab your copy and cross one more thing off your Christmas list!

We’ll see you tonight at our LiveStream Event for an hour of fun, celebration, and giveaways. **To be eligible to win these prizes you must be live with us on the Livestream celebration.

September 24, 2012

YAY!!! This weekend brought with it some very cool weather, completely sunny mind you but wonderfully crisp. Out, as in immediately out, came my sweaters. I've had myself swathed in wool for three days now.

Do you know what else happens with Autumn? Michaelmas or better known here as Dragon and Lantern day, which happens on Friday September 29th.

"Michaelmas is a celebration of many important ideas. It is a harvest celebration, when we honor the blessings of agriculture and the work of human hands that toil to put good, life-sustaining food on our tables and in our bellies. The bounty of earth is all around us in the autumn, and yet the shorter days and cooler temperatures remind us that soon many of our food plants must die or go dormant. The earth must rest, so that new growth can occur next year.

Michaelmas is also a community celebration, in which we are reminded that we succeed when we work together to overcome hunger, want, and disease, and the less visible dangers of loneliness and fear. It is our chance to come together on the good, green earth and declare to one another: We are alive. We are together. Together we are strong. Together and with pure hearts, we can overcome. In this time, maybe more than ever before, we all need reminders of strength, selflessness, courage, hope, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil." From The Autumn Equinox and Michaelmas Feast E-book

I have a very special treat for you. Friends Eileen Straiton from Little Acorn Learning, and Sara Merkel Wilson from Love in the Suburbs have written a fantastic Michaelmas guide. They gave me a sneak peak and like all of the Little Acorn Guides, this one is loaded !!!!

The e-book is 133 pages full of verses, fingerplays, poems, songs, crafts, meditations, book recommendations, circle times, recipes and much more. Filled with amazing and inspiring articles and tutorials, some of the projects included in this e-book are as follows:

Needle Felt a Beautiful Apple Mother Doll

Go on an Apple Picking Field Trip and Learn About Different Varieties of Apples

Photo by Eileen Straiton and Sara Wilson

Design a Breathtaking Early Autumn Nature TableRead Books with the Children Celebrating Autumn and Michaelmas

Make Your Own Apple Stamps

Enjoy Homemade Applesauce Together

Crochet an Apple for Your Nature Table or Play Kitchen

Create a Beautiful Autumn Candle Holder Centerpiece

Make an Archangel Michael Mobile

Photo by Eileen Straiton and Sara Wilson

Harvest Natural Dye Materials from Outdoors and Make Capes of Light Playsilks

Hold a Michaelmas Family Feast

Photo by Eileen Straiton and Sara Wilson

Create Dragons out of Nature Items

Bake Dragon Bread with the Children

Make a Dragon Tree Block Checker Set

Sculpt Dragons out of Modeling Material

Cut Out Paper Flying Dragons to Display on Your Wall

Make a Michaelmas Felt Play Set

Paint an Autumn Leaf Stencil Painting with Watercolors

Crochet Beautiful Autumn Leaves for Your Nature TablePaint Your Own Interpretation of Michael and the Dragon

Look Inward and Face Your Own Dragons with our Caregiver Meditation

Share Verses and Songs About Autumn and Michaelmas

Meditate on Quotes from Steiner and Other Inspirational Individuals

Enjoy Pinecone Weaving

Share Circle Time Together

Photo by Eileen Straiton and Sara Wilson

Make Michael Sword Napkin Holders

Sculpt Michaelmas Worry Beads

Craft and Autumn Equinox Wreath

And Much, Much, More!

Whenever I enter into a Little Acorn Learning Guide I always feel so warm and nurtured. It's such a happy place for me and I know it will be for you too. To get your guide to prepare the most wonderful Michaelmas Feast Day go here.

September 17, 2012

Oh my goodness, last week saw me traveling to Minnesota to be with a few friends I met at last year's Creative Connection. This year the Creative Connection didn't happen but our own version did. We found ourselves delving into the world of junk and what a splendor it was too.

I found so many toys from my childhood and a million things that were either in my home growing up or at my grandparents.

Along with selling vintage there was also a lot of repurposed. People are so creative and clever. Usually I love very soft things with lots of color but I found myself on this trip really loving old industrial items. They just sort of called to me.

Our evenings were spent crafting and talking to all hours of the morning. Today I'll just share some of the wonderful junk that was found, and tomorrow I'll share a little crafting love. :)

September 09, 2012

Oh my, what hectic-crazy-beautiful-exciting past few weeks I have had! Life has been a whirlwind, but a happy whirlwind.

As many of you may know the enhanced digital ebook that I co-created with super talented graphic designer Roscoe Welply has been launched and is doing very well. The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory has been popping up in TV Interviews, and even in the latest Rhythm of the Home on-line magazine edition. We
are thrilled, and just trying to keep up!

We are especially proud of this review and video at The DailyAppShow,
mainly because it shows reader’s first-hand how The Ultimate Guide to Charlie works.
Charlie has also made Melissa Taylor of Imagination Soup’s list
of The Top 14 iPad Books for Kids. Thank you Melissa!

The cherry on the Ice Cream Sunday
was when Charlie was awarded the coveted QED award. The QED Seal, which stands
for Quality, Excellence, and Design, is the “Good Housekeeping Seal of
Approval” for e-books. It signals to an e-book reader that the title will
render well in whatever their preferred reading format and that they can buy
with confidence. This is a BIG DEAL for us! Read more about this awesome
award on the Charlie blogHERE

BUT..here’s what we are super
excited about Right.Now. Mark your calendars for September 13. This will
be a very special day because it is the beginning of our…(drum roll)…

The
Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’s Golden Ticket Giveaway!!!

We have hidden an image of a Golden
Ticket on five Very Special Blogs. Find the images, copy the urls, and head
over the Ultimate Charlie website to enter to WIN!

One lucky winner will win a brand
spank-in new Apple iPad with The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and several
other
KiteReaders books already loaded on it! There will be several
secondary prizes as well (gift cards for iTunes and Amazon). I HIGHLY
recommend you stay on top of the action by subscribing to our Charlie
newsletter HERE. That way you will get the inside scoop as
soon as the giveaway goes live AND be in the first wave of people to discover
WHO the 5 Very Special Bloggers are!

So mark your calendars for September 13th, and head over to The Ultimate Guide to Charlie's blog to read the rest the of the details and get entered to WIN.

Our adventure with Charlie
continues and I just can’t wait to see where the path unfolds next. But with
the Golden Ticket Giveaway, I can take YOU along on the adventure.

September 06, 2012

Ah I'm sitting here this morning, the first time in a long time quietly. The sky is cloudy. It rained last night and I'm beginning to get glimmerings of Autumn, one of my favorite seasons.

In a moment I'll go and make myself a cup of coffee, one of my favorite beverages. There is something almost sacred in the corners of my day that I assign a latte to. It's never slugging down a cup of coffee for the sake of it, just sitting outside, or at my table by the window, taking a pause in my day to just savor the little beans.

This week in my iphonegraphy course we were to look up close. The first thing I found was to go with my cup of coffee. Is there nothing better than chocolate cake? This one was a beauty and shared with my dear friend Susie whilst we were traveling to Birmingham Alabaman on a short promotional tour.

I loved this little bee and was amazed at how close I could got.

I decided to put this little fellow into a collage and tell share the love of my dahlias with you. This dahlia was bred by my father and I think of him every time this goes into bloom throughout the summer. My husband gave me the stepping stone several years ago for my birthday. It's a lovely little corner in my paradise garden and reminds me of two of the men in my life who love me dearly.

A summer afternoon found me casting glass stones playing a Japanese children's game with a little visiting friend. I loved the way my iphone caught the light.

And finally I caught a wave not on a board but on my camera. This is a very special place to me and my family. We've been walking this beach on the Baltic Sea for hundreds of years. I always wonder which previous family members walked here before me and what were they thinking? What was their lives like and has much changed throughout all of this time?

September 04, 2012

Hello Everyone !!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I found myself visiting Birmingham Alabama for a couple of days. It's such a pretty city and a really lovely state. I enjoyed my time there immensely.

Finally the day has arrived to discover who has won a copy of Fed Up With Frenzy by Susan Lipman. Before I divulge the answer I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who entered. If you haven't checked out this lovely treasure trove of a book please do so. You won't be sorry.

And now for the BIG announcement. The winner of Fed Up with Frenzy is:

August 28, 2012

A couple of years ago I discovered her blog Slow Family Online. It spoke to the core of my being. We've been able to share our love of creating memories in our families by savoring each moment.

Fed up with car-pooling, the school drop off line, sports practice, hours of homework, and a constant pressure to do more quickly , one day Suz Lipman decided to just stop this mad paced life and to slow down.

This decision or the thought of such a decision can leave one with more questions than answers.

Is it really this easy to just stop? Won't my children just watch TV or play video games? What about my child being well-rounded to get into a good university? All of these I can tell you are some of the same questions that ran through my brain as well.

"Slowing down doesn't mean moving at a snails pace but creating a time schedule that feels right for you and your family."

Everything starts with the intention to do so. Here's the gem of it all, you, as in you and your family get to choose how you fill your time together. I can share from experience that it is that easy to stop the frenzy and exchange it for fun.

Fed up with Frenzyis a treasure trove of a guide filled to the brim with afforadable activities to help your family slow down and reconnect to one another.

Included in this slow family adventure guide are cooking and crafting, getting outdoors, seasonal celebrations and wonderful suggestions for "slow" family vacation activities. Pages and pages of wonderful inspiring ideas to create memories for you and your family.

I couldn't help physically smiling while reading this gem of a book because of the memories it evoked from my own childhood. My lucky husband and children have been followed through the hallowed halls of our home to hear me reading from my favorite jump rope rhymes, hand-clapping games, choosing IT, and let's not forget those scouting games and crafting moments such as the ever popular sit upon.

As I've read through this book several times now, exact and precise moments from my childhood came jumping off the page. I am ever inspired to write a childhood memory journal for my children as we take the suggestions off these pages and make memories together.

I know for certain that if Suz and I lived on the same street growing up that we would have been the best of friends. The only question I had after reading Fed up with Frenzy is if Suz Lipman ever spoke Pig Latin. Certainly after sharing so many of the same creative moments in our lives, it is hoped that we share Pig Latin as well. :)

Here's a little more about Susan Sach Lipman:

She is the founder of slowfamilyonline.com, writes for Christin Science Monitor's Modern Parenthood blog, and is the San Francisco Slwo Family Life Examiner at Examinercom. She is also the Social Media Director for the Children & Nature Network, which encourages and supports people and organizations working around the world to reconnect children with nature.

A longtime Girl Scout leader, Suz also enjoys gardening, hiking, community volunteering, reading, soap crafting and food canning. She lives with her husband and daughter in Mill Valley, CA.

Today we are giving away one copy of Fed up with Frenzy. Please leave a comment below telling us what activities you love to share together as a family. This giveaway goes through Monday September 3rd with the winner announced September 4th. A huge thank-you to Sourcebooks for supplying the book for today's giveaway.